Arrival!

Athens Travel Blog

Before you read this, appreciate this is a diary I wrote at 18 which has been heavily edited haha! I was a lot more naive at this age, having never travelled without my parents before. It was to be a trip of a life-time, which really opened my eyes to the world out there, with so many places yet to discover! I am a lot more travel wise now, and it is hilarious to look back at the things I found so strange and exciting at the time!

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We left, hyper and highly excited on a cool Saturday afternoon from the school car park at 5, Manchester airport bound, a long journey before us, parents long behind and forgotten. Our flight took off at 10, meaning our 4 hour flight had us arriving in Athens, bleary eyed, at 2 our time, 4 their time, with a very long coach ride still ahead of us!

After about 2 hours (interrupted) sleep we stopped at a roadside cafe for breakfast - my first experience of Greek cuisine and Greek toilets - YOU CAN'T FLUSH TOILET ROLL! This alien meal for me, came in the form of a big cup of coffee and what I christened as a "hairy sausage" - a nut roll thing, surrounded in what looks like shredded wheat and then soaked in honey, on reflection I believe it was a baklava. I tried it and decided it was vile after about 2 mouthfuls and then put it in my bag where I promptly forgot about it and found it 3 days later in Olympia.